In the art it is desirable to produce elastomeric compounds exhibiting reduced hysteresis. Such elastomers, when compounded to form articles such as tires, power belts and the like, will show an increase in rebound, a decreased rolling resistance and will have less heat build-up when mechanical stresses are applied.
Previous attempts at preparing reduced hysteresis products have included high temperature mixing of the filler-rubber mixtures in the presence of selectively-reactive promoters to promote compounding material reinforcement; surface oxidation of the compounding materials; chemical modifications to the terminal end of polymers using tetramethyldiaminobenzophenone (Michler's ketone), tin coupling agents, aminoaldehydes, tetrachlorofulvenes, various amides and ureas, certain cyclic amides and lactams, dimethylimidazolidinone, carbodiimide, pyridine and the like; and, surface grafting thereon. All of these approaches have focused upon increased interaction between the elastomer and the compounding materials.
It has also been recognized that carbon black, employed as a reinforcing filler in rubber compounds, should be well dispersed throughout the rubber in order to improve various physical properties. One example of the recognition is provided in published European Pat. Appln. EP 0 316 255 A2 which discloses a process for end capping polydienes by reacting a metal terminated polydiene with a capping agent such as a halogenated nitrile, a heterocyclic aromatic nitrogen containing compound or an alkyl benzoate. Additionally, that application discloses that both ends of the polydiene chains can be capped with polar groups by utilizing functionalized initiators, such as lithium amides.
The present invention provides novel initiators for anionic polymerization which become incorporated into the polymer chain providing a functional group which greatly improves the dispersability of carbon black throughout the elastomeric composition during compounding. As will be described hereinbelow, these initiators are compounds containing an amino-substituted aryl group.
Organolithium polymerization initiators are also known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,049, owned by the Assignee of record, discloses an organolithium initiator prepared from a halophenol in a hydrocarbon medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,061 is directed toward amino-functional initiators which polymerize diene monomers to form mono- or all-primary aryl amine-terminated diene polymers upon acid hydrolysis.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,147 discloses terminal modifying agents including dialkylamino-substituted aromatic vinyl compounds such as N,N'-dimethylamino benzophenone and p-dimethylamino styrene, in rubber compositions having reduced hysteresis characteristics. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,409, an amino group-containing monomer, such as 2-N,N-dimethylaminostyrene is polymerized to form an amino group-containing diene based polymer.
Thus, the foregoing art has not employed an amino-substituted aryllithium initiator compound for the incorporation of an amino-substituted aryl functional group at one end of the chain, with a lithium atom at the opposite end prior to quenching.